At a star-studded event hosted by Karan Johar, Abhishek Bachchan and Sumukhi Suresh, Amazon Prime Video on Thursday rolled out an ambitious five-year road map and unveiled a 40-strong slate of new titles, new films (both originals and collaborations) and new seasons to be streamed over the next two years.
The offerings include ‘The Family Man’ duo Raj and DK’s con thriller series ‘Farzi’, starring Shahid Kapoor and Vijay Sethupati, and Rohit Shetty’s ‘Indian Police Force’, with Sidharth Malhotra and Shilpa Shetty in the lead roles, as well as new seasons of ‘Mirzapur’, ‘Paatal Lok’, ‘Mumbai Diaries’, ‘Four More Shots Please’ and of course, ‘The Family Man’.
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For the star-struck, there’s Juhi Chawla, who essayed a sweet return in ‘Sharmaji Namkeen’, leading the cast of ‘Hush Hush’, Telugu star Naga Chaitanya in the supernatural horror series ‘Dhootha’, and Sonakshi Sinha playing a police inspector in the serial killer drama ‘Dahaad’ created by Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar.
The streamer, which has completed half a decade in India, also has a lineup of original films, notably the comedy ‘Maja Maa’ with Madhuri Dixit Nene, collaborations, such as the Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer ‘Tiku Weds Sheru’, and co-productions, including the Akshay Kumar-starrer ‘Ram Setu’ and the crime thriller ‘Neeyat’ with Vidya Balan and Ram Kapoor.
A flurry of major announcements were made at the marquee event, which included a commitment from the streamer to more than double its investment in Prime Video India over the next five years, a foray into original films, and licensing deals with leading Indian production houses: Ajay Devgn FFilms, Dharma Productions, Excel Entertainment and Yash Raj Films.
Among its other hooks for viewers, Amazon has launched Prime Video Store, its transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) movie rental service in India, available to both Prime members and non-members. The service will enable customers to get early rental access to the latest Indian and international films.
The event was attended by Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios; Kelly Day, VP, international, Amazon Prime Video; James Farrell, head of local originals, Amazon Studios; Gaurav Gandhi, country head, Amazon Prime Video India; and Aparna Purohit, head, India originals.
“We have played a key role in helping expand the linguistic palette of Indian customers, thereby increasing the audience base for creators and talent,” said Gandhi. Purohit added: “We are confident that our upcoming slate of shows and films will transcend all barriers of language, nationality or formats.”
